Jimmy Meese was the set decorator on Enterprise and was also the decorator on Voyager. He has quite a talent for finding all the right things that dress the set perfectly. He is not only brilliant at what he does, he try’s to add the personality of the characters he is dressing for. In Archer’s ready room he wanted to mix a little art and sculpture with a bunch of little personal effects. With that Jimmy came over and asked if in my free time could I draw some versions of real ships called Enterprise with the NX-01 being the final drawing… I said sure and would love to make these pieces for him. so during lunch I went and got the colored paper to print on. and then got busy with all the other drawing assignments that were pilled up. Doug Drexler was finally into detailing his Enterprise after a long hard battle of getting the design thru the approval process. I sketched a rough angle and he made me a print that matched the direction and angle for me and I put it away and got back to Herman’s list of things to be drawn. well I got busy and forgot about this request and Jimmy came in a few weeks later and asked about his drawings!!!!! he said that he needed them no later than tomorrow morning,,, I said sure sure no problem,, He smiled and walked away, As soon as he was out of sight the panic hit,,,, My desk was right next to my Boss’s office door and I tried for about an hour to hide jimmy’s drawings under Herman’s so I could fake a quick shuffle so he wouldn’t see my moonlighting. It was almost impossible because he all of a sudden started visiting my desk every time he walked by. By about 2:00 I was really panicked and faked a quick emergency phone call and asked to be excused early to get home… Granted I grabbed my stuff and ran over to the backlot and hid in one of the fake buildings on New York street climbed to the top of one where I new there was a table chair and work light and drew away. I got most of the drawings done by about 9:00 and it was time to head back to the office to use the copier and finish off the details. Rats Herman was still in the office and he was there until after 10:00, I kept working in the shadows with his door in site. FINALLY He left and The trouble of an evil Xerox Machine began. By about 4:00 in the morning the copier started to take the paper and lucky for me because I only had 5 sheets left and 5 drawings to print. Once all was done I grabbed the black and white conte pencils and did some quick highlights and by 6:30 I was done just as Fritz came in to work. We were always the early ones and it was a tradition to take either end of the couch that was in the office and crash until 7:00 when everyone else came in to work. That 30 mins seemed like a quick blink. Anyways Jimmy was there at 7:00 sharp and when I pulled out the drawings he kinda had a frown/smile like he lost a bet with someone over these being done on time. He was very happy and said; Oh yah I forgot to tell you that there is only room for 4 drawings in the frame so the 5th wasn’t needed after all. so here are all 5 high speed drawings that made the following day at work majorly rough! I loved every minute of it though!!!!

Cool story! Especially hiding in the New York Streets set! 🙂 I’ve got a large printout of the four paintings in my living room, got it from my friends a few years ago. Ever since Enterprise was cancelled, I’ve had a black ribbon attached to one of the corners of the painting, I guess I should remove it as soon as the new movie is released 😉
Cool to see the drawing of the CV-6 too, I have never seen it anywhere before.

It’s comforting to hear the professionals get into those situations too, I had many a night like that during my studies. Never would have guessed the drawings were such a rush job, though, they don’t show it.

HAAAA! Yeah your right!!! this happened on DS9 when we had to create 1950’s art work for Sisko’s back in time episode and I quickly put 1953 on them… Thanks goodness for twilight so I can explain this long life!!!!!

So, if you were alive and making drawings in the 1950s (presumably, not as a child) how old were you when the Enterprise-E was launched? 440? 450? Your name is on the dedication plaque and you’d already been in Starfleet at least 80 years, since your name was also on the Enterprise-B plaque. 😉

these were all 11×17 and sadly they don’t make the paper anymore. I went out and bought about 20 sheets before this happened and I was glad because the next week they asked for three back up sets incase something happened to the ones on set

I’ve been looking for info on this prop for a while now and just stumbled across this thread. It was a pleasure to read the story about the origin and to finally know the correct size of the drawings!

I really want to re-create this prop full size and screen accurate for my living room wall. Could I trouble you with a couple more questions? Don’t know if you remember offhand and I certainly wouldn’t ask you to go to any effort but… would you happen to know…?

– The finished size of the frame?
– Were those top and bottom boarders frosted?
– The width of the frosting top and bottom?
– Was it just left clear glass in the middle where the drawings are mounted?
– What were those round silver wall mount discs?
– Were the mounts just spaced out evenly?
– How far out from the wall was it spaced?
– Since the original paper is no longer available, any reccomendations for a SA substitute? Matte, semi-gloss, gloss?

Again, not expecting miracles of memory but any pointers would be appreciated. This would look very cool on my wall and would really be the focal point of my whole collection.

I always thought the drawings were a nice organic touch to the room. And a bit of a tie-in with TMP where a similar thing was done in the Rec Room. I love the fact that you forgot! I’m a designer, and I’ve had that phone call where the client asks if something is done and the adrenaline hits you and you say “almost” – and then get started! Great story, John. And great pieces, too.

I, too, noticed these first…the name Enterprise has a great history that has always held a special place for me, and when I saw the opening of ENT that first day I was a very happy girl! Excuse me while I get excited and share some thoughts on “Enterprise”.

There have been 23 ships actually named HMS or USS Enterprise and commissioned with a very cool and varied history. I found that the current name, USS Enterprise, is the carrier, of course, and actually a building, too (BLDG 7115)! It is officially designated with the name and used by the navy as a ship for training purposes…go figure.

Too bad the CV-6 didn’t make it, being THE highest decorated ship from WWII. She actually received her most recent commendation in 1995 (maybe there will be more?). She served a full 4 1/2 years during the war before taking a kamikaze hit that blew a hole in her flight deck in May of 1945. In the fall of 1945, she took part in Operation Magic Carpet and brought home some 10,000 soldiers from Europe. She even received the British Admiralty Pendant – the ONLY ship outside of the Royal Navy to receive this award in the over 400 years it has existed!! I just felt that she deserved her full recognition here, since she didn’t get air time on the show. I love seeing both Big-E’s here. 🙂

John, correct me if I’m mistaken, but umm, the sailing ship looks exactly like a pic I have of the frigate USS Constitution right down the the paint job. Since she is still sailing and has actual pictures available, I could see why you would choose her. But for the record, she is one of 6 original US navy vessels commissioned by the Naval Act of 1974, none of which were named Enterprise. 🙂 It’ll be our secret here on the blog.

Man, you don’t know how many times I’ve paused the DVDs trying to get a look at those great drawings on the walls. Thanks for posting them, now I can look at them and the unused one all I want. It’s a shame the WWII aircraft carrier didn’t make it on the wall.

I’ve always appreciated the set art and models you see as those unique touches that so many people don’t seem to notice yet make scene seem more like real life. Too bad about the CV-6 drawing it is very nice.

Funny story about doing work during the night. Especially the part with the NY street set. I always thought those buildings were just walls. So, if most of you came in around 7:00, yet stayed that long there and considering the time it takes to commute to work – how many minutes did you actually spent at home any given weekday ? 😉

When I first saw them and I too thought immediately about the rec room in ST TMP. Great idea.

I live way out of LA!!! I am not from California and it’s to busy, and dirty for me so I live out in the high desert by Edwards Air force base. I would leave my house at 4:30 start work between 6 and 7, work till 4:00 and go home,, if traffic was bed it would be about a 2 hour drive.The weekdays were rough but being out of town with my family was all worth it.

I don’t know whether to be awed or scared of this story. LOL!! I just recently pulled two “up until 4:00 am and back up at 7:30 am for work” nights to finish off an animation project for one of my classes. It scares me to know that those days don’t end after school!

These are really fantastic pieces, John! I loved the look that they gave to Archer’s ready room! Very classy! I drew inspiration from them when designing a Briefing Room when I first started 3D modeling. (LOL…promise not to laugh – this was one of my first attempts using 3D Studio Max about 4 years ago) http://www.startrekunity.com/images/LO%208.jpg

Dear Mr. Eaves, thank you so much for this and ALL of the fascinating ‘behind-the-scenes’ stuff you have just recently posted here! Was wondering if you had any contact info for Mr.Mees, as I have managed to win one of his set dressings online, Dr.Phlox’s animal cages, one blue and one silver, which appeared in the pilot and reappeared through out the shows run. They appeared to be hand made and I would love to ask him if he recalls them at all though I wasn’t aware of his name till you told this story just now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Either way, will be looking forward to more on this site!! Thanks again, well done.

Hi John, good seeing you again today at Wonderfest, thanks again for signing my book with the 2 drawings you did on the spot for me. Penny never told me the story behind the display but awsome that you have shared it here with all of us. Did you ever recall what paper you used for the drawings or photocopies? Both Penny, Anthony and I all share the same birthday month/week in October trying to get a trip out to visit so maybe we can all go out for dinner sometime. Take care look forward to hearing from you. Rusty